The news of the Rs. 90-crore interest-free loan by the Congress to Associated Journals Pvt. Limited for the purpose of reviving the National Herald has come as a shock, but the Election Commission has rejected a petition by Subramaniam Swamy to de-recognise the Congress Party, maintaining that it hadn't violated any provision of the Representation of the People Act.

ACCORDING TO Subramaniam Swamy, the Congress has violated the laws of Income Tax and the Election Commission of India by providing money to ASL. He has filed a complained with the EC in this connection, demanding de-recognition of the Congress as a political party.

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BJP’s senior leader Arun Jaitly has pointed out at the commercial interest of the Congress in this transaction because Young Indian, a company constituted under Section 25, has been taken over by the ASL board of directors, which includes Congress president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi, treasurer Moti Lal Vora and senior leader Oscar Fernandes. The BJP has demanded that the EC should take cognizance of Swamy’s complaint.

The Socialist party is of the firm view that political parties are not formed to practice money laundering in any fashion. If the Congress has an emotional attachment with the National Herald, it should have adopted some other possible way to revive the newspaper. The party, which has been promoting national and multinational corporate houses, could have otherwise revived an old newspaper easily.

The newspaper could have been helped through the central government, taking other parties in confidence. This arbitrary act of the Congress once again proves that it believes that the Nehru family is the Congress. That is why it does not find any fault in promoting the newspaper by the Congress Party.

The Socialist Party would like to reply to the argument presented by the Congress in their defense in this matter. The Congress has spoken from a high pedestal, posing a brave face that the party’s act was aimed at propagating and strengthening the Gandhi-Nehru ideology and legacy. The argument is hollow. Politicians as well as intellectuals in India have established a wrong tradition by tagging Gandhi’s name with Nehru.

The spokesperson of the Congress has repeated the same old mistake. The Gandhi-Nehru legacy term is misleading. When the country became independent, Nehru had told Gandhi that his vision of India did not correspond to (Gandhi’s) dreams. Gandhi too had rejected the vision of India as propounded by Nehru. The testaments of both the great personalities to this effect are available in writing.

The Socialist Party does not believe that the Congress of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are working to realize even Nehru’s vision of India. Nehru, with a mixed economy and a welfare state, was trying to build a socialist India. At least he had stated this on so many occasions. He included the term socialism as a goal in the Congress party’s document. Later the term was included in the Preamble of the Constitution by Smt. Indira Gandhi. Therefore, the claim of the today’s Congress, which openly supports and serves the interest of corporate capitalism, cannot be an heir to the Nehruvian legacy. Thus, its claim is nothing but hollow. The Socialist Party suggests that the Congress should rename itself as ‘Corporate Party’. This term illustrates its true character.

(About the Author: Dr. Prem Singh is General Secretary and Spokesperson of Socialist Party, India)

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